Australian Dress Register

Sixteen-year-old Robert Kilby (1839 – 1915) and his 45 year-old widowed father William Kilby (1812? – 1903) arrived in Australia from England in 1856. William Kilby lived to be 91 and is buried in Weetangera Cemetery (Cameron, Four Pioneers of the Limestone Plains, pp. 39-41). William Kilby’s sister, Mary Smith (1818 – 1907), had previously migrated to Australia with her husband and settled at Ginninderra, and the Kilbys joined them there after reaching Sydney. Following the passage of the Free Selectors Act (1861), Robert, and his father selected 16 hectares at Weetangera for the purposes raising sheep and grazing cattle, naming it Land's End.

Their first homestead at Weetangera was built by Robert and Jane in the 1860s. Edith lived at Land’s End continuously from her birth until a few weeks before her death in 1957 (Canberra Times, 10/05/1957, p.4); though in 1926 Edith and Evan built a new house on the property, one mile closer to Canberra (Canberra Times, 01/06/1926, p.2).

Edith Kilby’s grandfather (William Kilby) and Evan Cameron’s grandmother (Mary Smith) were siblings. Mary had migrated to Australia with her husband Edward Smith in 1852. Edward was assigned to work at Duntroon before transferring to William Davis’ property at Ginninderra. Later he selected land at Weetangera, the homestead becoming known as The House, where he and Mary raised their family. Their daughter, Anne Smith, married Ewan Cameron, later the first teacher at the Weetangera School (1875 – 1884) in 1865 and amongst their children was the aforementioned Evan Cameron who married Edith Kilby.

In his book Four Pioneers of the Limestone Plains, Evan Cameron recounted the prevailing wisdom regarding the naming of Land’s End. Apparently, a local named John Coppin expressed his surprise that Robert and Jane Kilby had not heard some recent news to which Jane replied, “How would we hear anything, living in this land’s end of a place?” Robert liked the name and decided to apply it to his property (p.51).

Edith Lavinia Kilby was born on 11 September 1875 at Weetangera to Robert Kilby and his wife Jane Webster, whom he married in 1864. Edith was their fourth child and second daughter. She married Evan Cameron (1868 – 1956) in 1905 and they had five children: Twin daughters Freda Annie (1908 – 2001) and Thelma Jane (1908 – 1957), Heather Gladys (1909 – 2008), Selwyn Evan Robert (1911 - 1985) and Ewan Kinloch.

The Limestone Plains were the name given by the early settlers to the floodplains of the Molonglo River. Originally a farming/pastoralist community, they were later redeveloped as the site of the nation's capital, Canberra.

Information supplied by the donor, Miss Heather Shakespeare (daughter of Edith Cameron) from the research undertaken by her, her father Evan and her uncle Ernest Cameron on the history of their family and the local district.

Exhibited in The Women Who Made Canberra held at Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, 24 November 2012 - 17 March 2013.

The ridinng habit jacket is sewn from black wool and the lining is light brown cotton. Fabric of skirt undetermined, but is lighter than the jacket, and slightly reflective (satin/wool mix). Both garments have been lined in a light brown cotton drill. 

The body of both garments have been machine sewn. Repairs and alterations to the skirt have all been hand sewn, as has the hem. Seams of the jacket have been finished by hand. Buttons have been attached by hand.

No manufactures label, garment is most likely home-made.

Extensive alterations to the skirt - a large section has been patched over concealing extensive alterations or repairs. 

There are 22 fabric-covered buttons arranged down the front of the jacket and 3 buttons on each cuff, which are covered in the same black cotton drill. One hook-and-eye fastening sewn on the collar. The skirt has four black buttons on the rear of the garment - material unknown. 

The jacket has boning inserted front and back, with the skirt lined in light brown cotton drill and the jacket in cream-coloured cotton.

For much of the nineteenth century women's riding ensembles were inspired by men's dark, tailored clothing. By the 1880s their dress was so similar that some observers noted that from a distance it was difficult to distinguish the ladies from the gentlemen. In this era women rode side-saddle, and the skirt was made longer on one side to accommodate this. The slightly puffed sleeves were popular in the early 1890s before the 'leg of mutton' sleeves of mid- to late-1890s fashion. For this reason, the riding habit most likely dates from the early 1890s.

Jacket has several tears in the neck lining, a few holes around the shoulders and is worn under the armpits. Jacket heavily stained aounrd the neck,  most likely the reuslt of sweat. 

The skirt has been repaired numerous times, with a large rectangular patch attatched. Several tears in the skirt have also been repaired by hand with black thread, except one tear on the inside of the skirt which was repaired with brown thread to match the colour of the lining. Waistband has been shortened by folding over a section of fabric and then sewing the two sections together by hand. 

Slight mould damage around the hem of the skirt.